Personal Bests

A Look Back.

I’m not gonna lie, yesterday was a rough one. I spent the better part of my morning feeling sad and weepy, moping around the house and pulling the covers up over my head. I got hit with a whole wave of emotions – Lindsey and Sarah leaving, beach vacation over, back to Charlotte with reality of school being over, etc. It was a lot to deal with all at once, and I decided to wallow in it for a few hours and just let myself be sad.

The more time I get to spend with my friends and family, the more I realize just how much I miss them. Plus Casey’s family is all together in Indianapolis right now, and I am really really bummed and sad that we aren’t there too. The minute we got back to Charlotte, Casey and I both had the same realization – why didn’t we stay at the beach for another week?? I have this whole week open and he works from home, so we easily could have just extended our stay. GRRRRRR…..

We debated re-packing the car and heading back to the coast or up north to our families (and are actually still considering it…), but for now we’re just working on un-packing, laundry, and all that other post-vacation stuff that needs to be done. To lift my gloomy spirits, Casey suggested we go out to dinner and try something new. I pulled myself together and even got (sort-of) dressed up! Summer is officially here – shorts, sandals, and tank top weather!

And a chance to show off some fun new items! New necklace from Anthropologie that I bought when I was in Columbus a few weeks ago. And this fabulous new purse (also Anthropologie) that Lindsey gave me as a graduation gift last weekend!!! LOVE her and love the purse – isn’t it so perfect?

We decided to venture across town to an all-vegetarian Indian restaurant called Woodlands. I had read about online, but for some reason we had never actually been there! Because it was an all-vegetarian restaurant, they many more unique menu items than you traditionally see at Indian restaurants – not just the standard fare. For our appetizer, we decided to branch out from the usual naan or roti, and get some new things since they had so many options. We started with Peas Paratha – Whole Wheat Bread Stuffed w/ Peas, Potatoes, Mildly Flavored Spices.

These were really good, sort of like pea pancakes! And the peas were FRESH – yummmm.

These two things easily could have been our entire dinner – I can’t believe how much food came with the dosa! Not only was it huge, it was AMAZING! Some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had.

We both agreed that we are going to come back to Woodlands and just get dosas as our meal – sooooo delicious! I want another one right now!

By the time our actual entrees arrived, I was already kind of full. We considered having them boxed up for later, but then they looked so good that we couldn’t resist. Casey’s dish – Pav Bhaji -Mashed Vegetables w/ Special Herb & Spices, Served w/ 2 Rolls…

Hands down some of the best Indian food I’ve had. Totally authentic and unique – can’t wait to go back! Big thanks to Casey for pulling me out of my funk and taking me out for the night. :)

Now I have an entire WEEK with no plans and nothing scheduled – eeeeek! I don’t do well with free time – I always feel like I should be doing something. My plan is to do a lot of cleaning, organizing, and blogging, so that I am all caught up when next week comes. We are also still considering packing up the car and heading home to visit our families…

Coming up – big news about my summer! By the skin of my teeth I have pulled off an awesome internship. Can’t wait to tell you guys all about it! :)

How do you guys deal with the post-vacation blues? I am always so sad when it is over!

Wow – sort of fell off the map there for a minute. Sorry guys! Friday was our last day of vacation, and we tried to soak up every last minute of being at the beach and being together.

Sarah and I continued our tour de watermelon, ensuring that no juicy bite would be left behind.

Blake reluctantly tried his first green smoothie – I think he liked it! But then he promptly washed it down with a beer…

We didn’t want to get too much more sun because we were so burnt from the day before, but Sarah and I couldn’t resist playing in the waves one last time…

Casey came out and joined us, and we floated and bobbed in the water for about half an hour. The water is so peaceful when you get out past the breaking point.

The dogs did what they do best – slept all day long. :)

After our beach time was over, we got dressed up for one last night out in Topsail, and headed to Lindsey’s favorite restaurant, Beauchaines 211. Before we left, we attempted an ocean front photo shoot, but the wind was not really cooperating with all of our long hair…

We headed out front to the sound side to try for a less windy location, but sadly my photographer didn’t tell me that the sun was not cooperating. :(

Thanks to my self-timer, I did get a good one of the whole group!

Unfortunately our dinner wasn’t very good. I had called ahead and asked if they could accommodate 2 vegetarian/vegan meals, and a nice lady called me back to assure me that it would be fine. I guess that message was never passed along to our waitress, who had very little interest in helping us find something on a 100% seafood menu. I ended up with linguine with a few vegetables and no sauce, and Casey ended up with asparagus and French fries – total fail.

But the company was great, and it was a fun way to celebrate our last night together on the island.

Saturday morning we had to be checked out of our house by 10am, so we got up around 7 so that we could squeeze in one last beach walk.

My favorite part of our week was getting to do these early morning walk/runs with Casey and the dogs. A special little piece of the morning when no one else was out, and we had the beach all to ourselves..

We attempted another beach side photo shoot, but the wind just didn’t want it to happen…

And with everything packed up and ready to go, it was time to hit the road back to the mainland. It was so incredibly special for me to get to spend an entire week with Sarah, and I am SO glad she was able to come. I spent the whole week trying to convince her to come live with us this summer!

Goodbye Topsail, until next time…

The drive home was not nearly as fun as the drive there, but that is to be expected. I think the dogs are depressed that we left the beach. :(

Back in Charlotte – Lindsey, Sarah, and I went to an afternoon matinee of the Sex and the City 2 movie, and then camped out on the couch and watched Glee. The girls packed up and headed back to Cincinnati this morning, and now I am really really sad that they are gone. It was such a special treat to get to spend a week in paradise with the people I love most, and I realize even more just how special it was now that they are gone. :( Spending the rest of my day planning my summer and sorting through loose ends from vacation. I miss the beach!